Lucky foods are on the Chinese Lunar New Year menu at Western Lake
Chef Kent M.K. Wong has created a celebratory meal rooted in Cantonese traditions
Western Lake Chinese Seafood Restaurant chef Kent M.K. Wong (left) and manager Edward Zhou. Photo by Western Lake Chinese Seafood Restaurant
CHINESE LUNAR NEW Year celebrations are steeped in rituals and superstitions centered on good luck, whether it’s wishing good fortune to others with the gifting of red envelopes, welcoming it into the home with a thorough house cleaning, or readying yourself with the purchase of new clothes. It’s a time to focus on family, and food plays a central role. Sumptuous feasts feature dishes that symbolize prosperity and wealth; it’s said that those who eat these auspicious meals will be granted abundance for the year ahead.
While Lunar New Year is celebrated around the globe, different regions have different dishes that are a must on the table. At Western Lake Chinese Seafood Restaurant, chef Kent M.K. Wong has created a Chinese Lunar New Year menu rooted in Cantonese traditions and flavours. Wong, who hails from Hong Kong and was once named B.C. Chinese Chef of the Year, represented the Chinese Canadian Chef Association at the 2015 International Chinese Culinary Competition in France, winning gold; the following year, he won the World Championship of Chinese Cuisine in Holland.
“Chinese Lunar New Year is about celebrating with family,” Wong tells Stir. “We usually create dishes that everyone around a table can enjoy together.”
Braised dried oysters with black moss. Photo by Western Lake Chinese Seafood Restaurant
One of the most important foods to celebrate Chinese Lunar New Year is black moss, a land-based algae that some say resembles black hair. In Cantonese, black moss is commonly referred to as fat choy, a homonym for “gaining wealth”. (Gong Hei Fat Choy translates to “wishing you great happiness and prosperity”.) Wong’s preparation of fat choy is one that goes back generations: the moss is rehydrated and served with braised, dried oysters, all smothered in a savoury, garlicky sauce.
Chicken is another essential dish. Usually served whole, it’s a visual symbol of unity, which is an important theme of Chinese Lunar New Year. After completely de-boning and flattening the chicken, Wong stuffs it with sticky rice and fried scallops. Then he roasts it for a shining, golden, crispy skin. A show-stopper, the dish is served alongside a sauce made from abalone and broth; each lacquered bite provides layer upon layer of texture and flavour. (Chicken is a specialty at the popular dim sum spot: The restaurant won the Critics’ Choice Signature Dish award at the 2019 Chinese Restaurant Awards for its Roasted Salt Free Range Chicken.)
Fish also forms an important part of the Chinese Lunar New Year feast. The Cantonese word for fish is yu, a homonym for “surplus”. Fish dishes are associated with the wish for an abundance of food or wealth, in the hopes there will be enough left over for the following year. The chef serves battered and twice-fried cod filet with sliced vegetables in a tangy hot-and-sour sauce.
Seafood-and-pumpkin soup. Photo by Western Lake Chinese Seafood Restaurant
Gold is an auspicious colour that’s prevalent throughout the celebrations. Wong serves shrimp spring rolls, favoured because of their resemblance to gold bars and because they symbolize the wish for prosperity. He also makes a buttery seafood fried rice with golden corn as well a silky golden seafood and pumpkin soup.
For dessert, glutinous rice cake is always on Wong’s menu. Gao means cake, and it’s also a homonym of “rising up” or “going higher”—symbolizing the idea of getting a higher wage or higher grades, or heightening oneself in any way. After blending yellow cake batter with brown sugar and a touch of coconut, Wong slices the cake into rectangles and fries them to resemble gold bars: a sweet image of wealth for the New Year.
Western Lake’s Year of the Ox Chinese Lunar New Year menu is available until February 18. For more information, visit Western Lake.
Roasted chicken with dried scallops and sticky rice. Photo by Western Lake Chinese Seafood Restaurant
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